Some Kind of Cat Cop
by arysa13
Summary: AU where whatever you write on your skin also shows up on your soulmates skin, but only when you're both ready to be together.
Bellamy wakes up with a pounding headache. He'd known last night as he was downing those four tequila shots in quick succession that is was a bad idea and now he's suffering the consequences. He'd really like to just go close his eyes and sleep off his raging hangover, but his bladder has other ideas. He rolls out of bed, groaning like an old man (he really is too old to be getting so drunk, what was he thinking?), and makes his way to the bathroom.

It isn't until he's washing his hands he notices he has a phone number scrawled across the back of his hand in purple pen. He doesn't _remember_ getting someone's number last night, or even flirting with anyone, but then again he doesn't remember a whole lot, so he shrugs and heads back to bed.

Octavia comes by later, and his head is still pounding, but he doesn't feel quite so bad as before. Octavia spots the writing on his hand right away.

"Ooh," she gushes, grabbing his hand. "Who's the girl?"

"Honestly can't remember," Bellamy grimaces. "I kind of thought I was too busy getting smashed off my face to bother with trying to pick up, but apparently I was wrong."

"You were definitely the drunkest one there," Octavia tells him disapprovingly. "It was embarrassing, honestly."

"Hey, it was a celebration! I showing how happy I was for my two friends to be engaged," Bellamy defends.

"Yeah, well luckily Monty and Miller thought it was hilarious so they might still invite you to the wedding," Octavia rolls her eyes. " And Murphy recorded you all night so if you want to remember you can check out his snapchat story."

"I think I'll pass," Bellamy groans. "No need for me to remember all the stupid shit I did last night."

"But how will you remember who's number that is?" Octavia points out.

"Maybe I'll just call her," Bellamy shrugs. "Or you can call her in case it turns out it's not someone I actually want to have anything to do with."

"Oh my god, maybe it's Clarke," Octavia says excitedly.

"Right, she was there last night," Bellamy nods. He remembers speaking to her at some point, though he has no idea what was said.

"Oh, as if you didn't remember," Octavia rolls her eyes and pulls out her phone, grabbing Bellamy's hand and dialling the number. "Well, it's not Clarke," she muses. "She's already saved in my phone so…" she shrugs and presses the call button. Bellamy watches her intently, waiting to see who will pick up the phone.

"Hi… who am I speaking to?" Octavia asks when someone answers on the other end. Octavia pauses while whoever it is speaks. "Oh, um, wrong number, sorry!" she quickly hangs up and shrugs at Bellamy.

"Some chick named Niylah," Octavia tells him.

"I don't remember her," Bellamy states. "So… not that I care but how long is Clarke back in town for?"

"She's back for good," Octavia says knowingly.

"Good to know," Bellamy nods nonchalantly.

"You're an idiot," Octavia sighs.

* * *

If he's honest, Bellamy is probably a little jealous of Miller and Monty. It's probably 30% of the reason he got so drunk. The other 70% was celebration. Still, as happy he is for his friends, it's been hard on him, watching as Miller got to meet his soulmate, seeing Miller and Monty write notes to each other on their skin, because whatever they write on their own skin shows up on the others. It's cute, but it reminds Bellamy how alone he is.

There was a time, back when he first met Clarke, that he hoped Clarke was his soulmate. Those hopes were dashed pretty quickly though, because Clarke drew on herself _all the time_ , and Bellamy never got a single mark. It didn't stop him developing an enormous crush on her and consequently acting like a huge dork whenever she was around.

They didn't really keep in touch when Clarke got a job across the country right out of college, because technically she was Octavia's friend anyway, and he's ever been bad at technological communication. It's only been a couple of years, but a couple of years can seem like a lifetime.

But she's back now, and if the way his pulse had quickened when Octavia mentioned her name is any indication, he's probably not over his crush.

* * *

He's at work, bartending, when he catches something moving on his arm out the corner of his eye. He immediately thinks it's some kind of bug or spider and tries to flick it off before realising what it really is. It's _writing._ His heart starts pounding in his chest as he watches in awe as the words appear. It doesn't say anything particularly interesting. It seems to be some kind of list.

 _Cleopatra_

 _Carrie_

 _Cinderella_

 _Cruella De Vil_

 _Captain America_

 _Clown?_

"Oh my god," someone at the bar exclaims, and Bellamy looks up. "You have a soulmate? That's so cute!" It's just some random patron, and Bellamy is weirdly annoyed that she's the first one to see. "What does it say?" the woman asks. Her exclamation has attracted the attention of a few others as well, who look at Bellamy expectantly.

"Look like some kind of list of baby names," Bellamy shrugs, moving to hide his arm. The first woman grabs it though and starts reading. He wants to tell her to back off, but it's also his job to be nice to customers, so he lets her and the others read the writing on his arm.

"You think Clown might be a baby name?" a different woman says dryly.

"It has question marks," Bellamy says defensively.

"Write something back," some guy yells. Bellamy doesn't though, he just takes his arm back from the first woman, shaking his head and returning to his job. He thinks about the writing for the rest of his shift though, his heart lurching every time he looks at it. _He has a soulmate._ He never thought he'd get the privilege.

* * *

The writing is all gone by the next morning and Bellamy can't help but feel it's a loss. He wants to write something back, but he has no idea what. He could just write, _hi, I'm Bellamy,_ but that seems so lame, so he spends the whole morning thinking about what he can say to this girl so she knows she has a soulmate, and that her soulmate is a good person (for the most part). Octavia comes by at lunch time, interrupting his thoughts.

"Don't you have your own house?" Bellamy asks as her lets her in.

"Well, I can leave if you want but I came to invite you to a party," Octavia tempts. Bellamy rolls his eyes.

"I just went to a party," he reminds her.

"Trust me, you'll want to go to this one," Octavia says mysteriously.

"Okay, I give up," he sighs in faux resignation (like she was ever not going to tell him about the party), "what party?"

"It's Clarke's birthday party," Octavia claps her hands excitedly. "It's a last minute thing since she just moved back here, but she decided she wants to do something. It's next Saturday night. You're not working, are you?" Bellamy shakes his head.

"So you'll come?" Octavia verifies.

"I guess," Bellamy shrugs. He still does have a crush on Clarke and he wants to see her, but now that he has a soulmate he feels like it's time to move on, and find out about this new person.

"Oh, by the way, it's a costume party. You have to dress up as something starting with C," Octavia tells him as she flounces out the door. She isn't there to see Bellamy's mouth drop open as he realises what the list on his arm the night before was about. It was a list of _costume ideas._ For a party where the theme is "things starting with C." His soulmate is going to be at the party. His head is reeling as he scurries around looking for a pen. When he's located one he pulls up his sleeve and simply writes: _I'll see you at the party on Saturday._

* * *

Whoever she is, she doesn't reply immediately, or at all. Bellamy worries that he's scared her off. In hindsight, the message he wrote was pretty creepy, but he can't bring himself to write something else to explain. He'll see her at the party. He's much better in person. (This is why he never kept in touch when Clarke moved away).

So he spends the whole week stressing about it, obviously. He keeps checking his arms and hands for any kind of sign from her, but they are blaringly and emphatically blank. He knows he's screwed this up already.

Saturday rolls around and he could not be more nervous. He's decided to go as a cop for the party, it was easy to hire the costume at short notice. He gets dressed way too early and then spends an hour on his couch fidgeting, waiting for Octavia to come and pick him up. She strolls in like she owns the place, as usual, dressed as a cheerleader. She takes one look at him and bursts out laughing. Bellamy immediately feels self conscious about his costume, though he'd been pretty confident he looked super hot in it. (The girl at the costume hire place _really_ seemed to like it). (He let her down easy).

"What?" he scowls, looking down at his costume.

"What is on your face?" Octavia guffaws. Bellamy rubs at his cheek self consciously.

"I don't know, what is it?" he asks, annoyed. She's the one who can see his face, not him.

"Are you some kind of cat cop?" Octavia continues laughing at him.

"Cat cop?" Bellamy asks in confusion.

"Seriously, Bellamy. You have whiskers on your face. Did you not know?" Octavia raises an eyebrow at him, walking over to sit beside him on the couch. Bellamy immediately pulls out his phone and brings up the reverse camera. Sure enough he has whiskers and a nose drawn on his face.

"A cat of all things?" he mutters. "I didn't draw these," he tells Octavia. "Whoever my soulmate is must be going as a cat to the party tonight."

"Your soulmate?" Octavia asks incredulously. Bellamy nods. "I can't believe you didn't tell me!" Octavia scolds him.

"All I know is she's going to the party tonight. And I guess she's going to be a cat," Bellamy says wryly and Octavia chuckles before giving a loud sigh. "What's wrong?" Bellamy asks her.

"I always thought Clarke would end up being your soulmate," she shrugs.

"Yeah, but you know she used to draw on herself all the time," Bellamy points out. "It was never me."

"But you know, you only get the marks once you're _ready_ to meet them," Octavia reminds him.

"I know, but…" he trails off. _Could_ it be Clarke? She did just get back into town, to stay for good. And she's definitely going to be at her own party. "Do you know what Clarke is dressing up as tonight?"

"I think she said Captain America," Octavia shrugs. Bellamy nods sadly.

"It's okay," he lies. He'd gotten his hopes up for a second. "Clarke and I can still be friends and I'll meet someone tonight who I'll probably spend the rest of my life with."

"Lucky," Octavia sighs.

"You'll get your turn," Bellamy chuckles, putting his arm around her and squeezing her affectionately.

"Alright, Cat Cop," Octavia says suddenly, jumping up from the couch. "Let's go and meet your soulmate!"

* * *

The party is pretty big for something thrown together in a week, and most people seem to be dressed up as well. Bellamy loses Octavia almost as soon as they're inside the venue Clarke has hired for the evening. He looks around for Clarke for a little while, eventually gives up and runs into Monty.

"Hey," Monty throws his arms around Bellamy, clearly drunk already. "What are you supposed to be?"

"I'm a cop," Bellamy gestures to his uniform. "A cat cop," he points to his whiskers with a grin.

"Sweet," Monty nods.

"Have you seen Clarke?" Bellamy asks. "Or someone dressed as a cat?" Monty points vaguely into the sea of people (seriously, how does Clarke even _know_ this many people, let alone get them to come to a costume party at a moment's notice) and Bellamy's not sure if he's meaning Clarke or someone dressed as a cat. Unfortunately, there are actually a few people dressed as cats and Bellamy's heart stops every time his eyes land on a set of whiskers. He studies each one carefully though, deciding they aren't the same as his.

"Bellamy," Octavia says breathlessly, barrelling into him. She's grinning from ear to ear. "Clarke was just saying how her Captain America costume didn't really work out and…" Bellamy tunes Octavia out as he spots Clarke pushing through the crowd towards them. His heart stops for the fourth time that night, and when it starts beating again faster than ever before. Because Clarke is dressed as a cat. And he's _positive_ her whiskers are the same as his.

"Seriously, Octavia," Clarke scolds her, "did you have to run off like that?" She looks up at Bellamy then, who has been unable to take his eyes off her, unable to speak. He can only stand there looking at her, feeling something lodged in his throat, rendering him totally useless. (So much for being better in person). Clarke's eyes widen as soon as they meet Bellamy's and her mouth falls open.

"Nice whiskers," Bellamy finally manages to choke out.

"Oh my god," Clarke says.

"Is that a good oh my god or a bad oh my god?" Bellamy asks nervously. "Because-," he starts, but he doesn't get a chance to finish because Clarke is kissing him then and words aren't really important anymore anyway.

"You didn't reply to my message," Bellamy says when Clarke finally pulls away. (It had to be her to pull away first. Bellamy was never going to stop of his own accord). "The one I wrote on my arm."

"I was kind of going for dramatic reveal at the party," Clarke shrugs.

"You certainly achieved that," Bellamy laughs. "What did you think when you saw it? Did you know it was me?"

"I hoped it would be you," Clarke shrugs. "But I was kind of annoyed at myself for inviting so many people. When did it first start happening for you?"

"I, uh, woke up last Saturday morning with a phone number on my hand," he says wryly.

"Oh," Clarke turns a little red. "That was Niylah. She told me to call her if I ever stopped being in love with you. I didn't. Call her, that is."

"I'm glad," Bellamy grins. "I must admit though, I didn't realise what was happening until you wrote the list of costume ideas. I thought they were baby names." Clarke snorts out a laugh.

"One of those was Captain America," she reminds him.

"Captain America is a great name for a baby!" Bellamy defends. "By the way. Did you say before that you're in love with me?"

"Took you a while to pick up on that," Clarke screws up her nose.

"Clarke," Bellamy leans in, pressing his forehead to hers. "I love you too," he whispers before he kisses her again.


End file.
